Category Archives: Workplace Policy

Starbucks was originated by three coffee lovers, Gordon Bowker (Bowker), Jerry Baldwin (Baldwin), and Zev Siegl (Siegl). It was considered as one of the best companies around the globe. Starbucks is always concerned about its employees. It was one of the few corporations to provide extensive support to both full time workers as well as part time workers. It was always ensured at Starbucks that the workforce is encouraged which will in low employee turnover rate.

Starbucks realized at an early stage that employees play a very important role in the success and in generating sales revenue for the company. Therefore the company took every possible step to facilitate its employees and take good care of them by selecting the right people for the company. It has always showed confidence on its baristas and other staff members to a great extent in creating the ‘Starbucks Experience’ different from its competitors. The ultimate goal of the company was to pay attention on the hiring process. Starbucks hired people with the qualities of flexibility, reliability and the capability to work in a team. Starbucks has chosen the right kind of people and train them with the skills they would entail to perform their jobs proficiently. Starbucks invested significantly in employee training and managing the human resource policies. At Starbucks employees are provided to work in a great environment with dignity and respect for each other.

• Recruitment and Selection Policy

Starbucks is one of the leading companies of the world, having a magnificent growth rate of 12% quarterly. It hires 200 new employees every single day which is undoubtedly a large number. The procedure of hiring includes selection of the right candidate, interviewing them and also asking them to taste the coffee and allowing them to write notes about it which is definitely appreciated. Starbucks also asks its recruiters and HR managers to send gifts or souvenirs to all the applicants whether they are hired or not, they should always be treated as a family of Starbucks The process of employment in Starbucks is precisely designed for the job that is needed to be filled. Starbucks provides a platform of diversity to its employees where they are eager to learn and develop opportunities for themselves. At Starbucks, the employees who cleared the interview session are given proper and professional training before final selection. According to a source Human Right Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index Rating, Starbucks earned a 100% rating for the 4th consecutive year.

• Reward Policy

Employees at Starbucks are considered to be the most important assets for the company. A lot of free incentives are provided to the employees of Starbucks including free health care that also includes vision and dental care facilities. A special benefit for the employees who work more than 20 hours in three months are given free drinks, free coffee or tea every week. The salaries of employees are increased on the basis of their performance evaluation that are conducted twice in a year and are raised up to 5%. Company does not give any monetary bonuses to its employees but it gives a benefit of 30% discount on all the items that they buy from Starbucks. Green Apron concept in Starbucks provides a social and environmental responsibility of the individual employee through which they are awarded with the recognition cards and performance based points.

• Employee’s Development Policy

Starbucks has designed a number of employee development training for its staff at all levels. All the training provided to the employees helps them to boost their skills and align themselves with the customer demands. Starbucks provides training programs to its employees that includes; customer handling techniques, coffee making workshops and customer care programs.

Most of the Starbucks workforceis below 20 years of age, and the incentives Starbucks is providing to its employees are all attractive and beneficial for them. All the policies that Starbucks has developed for its employees have a significant impact on their performance. The reason for Starbucks success is due to the substantial high performance of the organization as well as its employees. The effective HR policies of any company makes it prominent and leading just like Starbucks.

By Stuart Lambert

When considering Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) products as a strategy for your organizations health and welfare benefits, it is important to understand the features, benefits and potential return on investment (ROI). For example, if you have an manufacturing organization that has a predominately male population, you may want to seriously consider this option. As a fully integrated product, the modern HRA/HMO requires no additional time or resources from a participant and or the Human Resources department.

‘One of the main things that I like to point out regarding the HRA products, especially the HMO/HRA product from Aetna that is fully integrated, is that health insurance is built around the ‘sick.’ ‘With the ‘fund’ being ‘Fully Integrated’, this process makes the addition or usage of the fund, seamless to the employee. When the employee goes to the Doctor, he pays his co-pay etc. Anything else that he has done is sent to the carrier on a claim form, and if the fund applies, then the fund is applied (from the carrier) until exhausted, at which point, the employee would have out of pocket responsibility. However, the employee and the doctor will receive an EOB explaining exactly what was utilized from the fund, including remaining balance as well as additional funds required etc. This means that with 80% of a carrier’s claims experience being generated by only 20% of the population, there is about 80% of the employee population that is truly not getting a ‘benefit’ from the benefits that are put in place,’ says Kevin P. Robinson

The average employee goes to the doctor one or two times a year, pays their co-pay and maybe gets a drug. However, at renewal time, due to that other 20%, this employee is then faced with the same 15%-25% increase, which is ultimately driving our ‘healthy’ population out of this insured pool as he can get a cheaper plan through individual coverage. This is called ‘Adverse Selection,’ says Kevin P. Robinson with The LBL Group. Estimated savings of implementing a HRA/HMO plan could range anywhere from 4% to 18% when compared to a standard HMO plan (Aetna Data Analytics, January 2008).

‘We need to have the ‘young, single, healthy male population, but with there not being a true ‘benefit’ in place for them, unfortunately, they are pulling out of the group coverage because it doesn’t make sense for their situation. An HRA gives them a fund that they can utilize, so in all actuality, they are getting ‘free coverage’ until their ‘fund’ is exhausted. What this does, is it truly provides something for everyone. The 20% utilizers, get a little relief for their out of pocket, but they are also required to pay more once that fund is exhausted, but the 80% are getting that fund, and the fund (or what is left at year’s end) rolls from year to year and has the addition of a new fund at the beginning of the year. So basically, that fund will eventually be large enough to cover the deductible and possibly the entire Out of Pocket Maximum (OOPM) for an entire year. This also keeps the employees w/the existing employer as this ‘fund’ is just part of the premium, and stays w/the carrier (through the employer). The bottom line is that this is very true, and a huge issue. The HMO/HRA is another ‘lid,’ says Kevin P. Robinson with The LBL Group.

Controlling Medical Costs

As medical costs continue to rise, employers are looking for opportunities to save money. For example, the Aetna HealthFund HMO combines the most popular features of typical HMO plans, i.e. copays for office visits, with consumer features that help employees increase their understanding and control of their personal health care spending. In conjunction with online tools and support, employees can save money by making better decisions around the purchases they make on health care. Furthermore, the features incorporated in Aetna’s HealthFund HMO, provides health coverage employees need at a cost that’s beneficial to the employer.

When looking at an HRA/HMO plan, consider the following plan benefits:

– A Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) fund

– Traditional HMO medical plan

– Optional Pharmacy rider

– Consumerism tools and information

‘There are only 5 services for which the fund applies – for example, if you put a 100% $750 deductible HMO/HRA w/a $250 fund in place, the employee’s max OOP would be $500 ($250 fund + remaining $500 balance of the $750 deductible) before Hospitalization goes to 100% coverage. Hospitalization is the key word here, as that is usually the big ticket item w/health insurance,’ says Kevin P. Robinson

– Emergency Care

– Hospital Care

– Outpatient Surgery

– Home Health Care

– Durable Medical Equipment

The Health fund could range from $250 to $1,000 for individuals and $500 to $2,000 for families. In relation to the fund, it will reimburse covered services and supplies that are applied to the plan’s deductible. ‘Copays are not eligible for fund reimbursements as they are not applied to the plans deductible and all fund reimbursements for covered eligible expenses are sent directly to members. At year end, any unused fund balance can be rolled over to the next year. However, members forfeit any unused balance when they discontinue participation in the plan,’ says Aetna.

When deciding on an HRA/HMO plans, it is important to compare hospital networks, doctor networks and other provider networks so that your employees will not be discouraged to enroll or take advantage of the benefits offered. Aetna offers members access to a Hospital Comparison Tool, Estimate the Cost of Care Tool, Healthwise Knowledgebase, Aetna InteliHealth website, DocFind, and The Personal Health Record (Aetna Registered Trademarks). Tools, resources and websites like this gives members secure access to their personal benefits information, with self-service features. Members will be able to securely access items such as: checking the status of a claim, finding a doctor, reviewing their health fund and deductible balances.

By incorporating HRA/HMO plans, employers are able to take advantage of key cost savings while offering their employees great benefits. Plans like Aenta’s HealthFund HMO, is robust, affordable, accessible and teaches employees to be proactive.

About the Author: Stuart Lambert is the Vice President of Marketing & Operations for The LBL Group. Stuart is responsible the strategic business development and managing The LBL Group located in Los Alamitos, California.

lblgroup.com

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January, 2018 byadmin

Business analysis professional qualifications help business analysts in many ways. It proves their competence on the subject. It helps organizations to ensure their business analysts are rightly skilled in business analysis process.

However, there is quite a lot of confusion in business analyst’s minds as to which business analysis certification they should pursue. Among the organizations offering business analysis certifications, IIBA® is the most prominent one. It now has 30000+ members of which approximately 10000 are now certified.

IIBA certifications have been most popular and sought after certification among the business analysts globally.

Both CCBA® and CBAP® certifications come from International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA®).

IIBA® has been doing amazing work on making the business analysis profession more recognized among the professional field and in corporate segment.

Last year IIBA® rolled out our new multi-level competency-based Certification program namely

ECBATM – Level 1 – Recognizes individuals entering the field of business analysis.

CCBA® – Level 2 – Recognizes BA professionals who have 2-3 years of business analysis experience.

CBAP® – Level 3 – Recognizes BA professionals who manage and lead with over 5 years of business analysis experience.

CCBA® – Certification of Competency in Business Analysis – is primarily targeted towards mid-level business analysis professionals who have served at least 3750 hours (roughly about 2.5 years) as business analysts in the industry performing BA approved tasks as per IIBA®.

CBAP® – Certified Business Analysis Professional – is primarily targeted towards senior level business analysis professionals who have served at least 7500 hours (roughly about 5 years) as business analysts in the industry performing BA approved tasks as per IIBA®.

Here is a short comparison on both the certification:

High Level Overview of Comparison

You may find the following pages to be useful in this context-CBAP details – AdaptiveUS.com/cbap-certification-trainingCCBA details – AdaptiveUS.com/ccbaYou may find this video to be useful for this comparison.

Visit site for more information. Adaptive US

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